hast thou done so And thus elsewhere he patiently submitteth himselfe to be afflicted at his good pleasure 2 Scm. 15.26 But if saith he he thus say I have no delight in thee behold here am I let him doe to me as seemeth good in his eies So good old Elie when he heard from Samuell what a fearefull worke God would doe to his house quietly he humbleth himselfs saying it is the Lord let him doe what seemeth him best 1 Sam. 3.18 Thus likewise Job once have I spoken yea twise but I will proceed no further I will lay my hand upon my mouth and abhor my selfe repenting in dust and ashes Lo Hezechiah sweetly submits when he looketh up to God what shall I say For he hath said it to me and he hath done it Isa 38.13 It is the safest way when Gods hand is on our back to lay our hand on our mouthes and do as Aaron did at the fearefull death of his sons when he heares Moses to tell him that God would be sanctified in those that did draw neere unto him He held his peace Lev. 10.3 Thus those Saints in the 21. Acts. 14 Conclude their arguments with words of submission concerning Paules journey to Jerusalem the will of the Lord be done Now as all events whatsoever are by and according to the will of God so to this will of God must we sweetly submit in all crosse accidents whatsoever we either feele or feare This have the Saints in all ages done when they saw once the the mind of God they quietly yeil ded So Mauritius the Roman Emperour when after the butchering of his loving wife and tender children before his face at the command of the Tirant Phocas he was to act his owne part in that mournfull tragedy in his flesh at first like a grudging Israelite began to repine and draw back but after some passionate panges he humbly submits with these words just art thou O Lord and just are thy judgements And this is patience indeed when we are content without murmuring or repining to resigne our selves into Gods hands to be dealt withall even as it shall seeme good to him both for the time and measure of our affliction We must not only not sink under them but not shrink from them Stay in them till he that laid them on shall please to take them off 1 If we would seriously consider who this is that afflicts us Why it is the Lord who is infinite in glory power and Majesty who having created us of nothing may dispose also of us according to his pleasure for why should the clay murmur against the potter dust and ashes against the glorious King of heaven and earth Who measureth the earth with his span and poyseth it as in a ballance who upholdeth all things by his word and ruleth them at his good pleasure In him we live move and have our being so that if he sustaine us we continue but if he blow upon us we are presently gone and returne again unto our dust 2 As God is infinite in majesty and power so is he just in his judgements his wayes are past finding out Hath he corrected us sharply surely 't was no more then we deserved hath he taken away our dearest friends by death why he took away nothing but what he gave he never gave any thing absolutely and for ever but only to use for a time till he againe did call for it and therefore seeing the Lord hath taken nothing but his owne let us not say we have lost it but only restored it to the right owner 3 Let us beare patiently whatsover comes from God because he is goodnesse it selfe from whom there can come no evill It is he that ruleth the world and ordereth all things for the best taking care of every particular person neither doth nor hath any evill in him God is the fountaine from whence all goodnesle flowes if he be good to all he is abundantly good to his owne if he be so sweet to those that seeke him how beyond expression will he be to those that finde him Now who may better chastize us then he that created us who more right to correct and nurture us then he who feedeth and nurseth us We see the most savage beasts which will not indure the looke of a stranger will take stripes from their owner who feedeth and tendeth them and shall we more brutish then they snarle and repine when the Lord who not only giveth us food but also maketh it nourishment doth chastize us for our good The Lord is our King and Soveraigne unto whom we are to yeild absolute obedience and therefore if earthly Princes doe punish their subjects and judge them insolent if they repine and rebellious if they resist not enduring expostulation or to have their actions called to account nay though they be unjust How then shall we be acquitted when being corrected by God we impatiently murmure and by using unlawfull meanes to free our selves as much as in us lieth resist him in his most righteous judgements which are all disposed for our good if we submit our selves unto them Seeing by ruling us thus on earth he fitteth us to raigne with him in heaven Ah! Therefore let us not looke to the interiour causes by which our crosses are immediately imposed but unto the Lord our God who is the cheife and supreame cause of all our afflictions Let us not looke to instruments and aggravate our sorrowes by circumstances as looking upon our afflictions with an impotent impatience because our enemies are malicious proude and insolent in the carriage of the matter but to God which aymeth at nothing but our good Thus saith Christ to Pilate thou couldest have no power except it were given the from above Thus likewise doe we make our burdens in supportable when we too much looke upon the treachery neglect or unkinde dealing of some friends of whom we have deserved well and therefore least of all suspected to have received from them such hard measure Alas if our thoughts mount no higher then those broken reeds we may sit down and die of discontent And therefore 't was sweetly said of a holy and experimentall Divine lately that unlesse we learne to suffer from the hands of Saints as well as from ungodly persons we must never looks to live a merry day So say I unlesse we can beare the fallings off the falsehood and treachery of a beloved friend we shall never come to possesse pure patience indeed And thus many times when ought befalleth us through our owne default negligence or want of providence we adde unto it the weight of many criminations and oftentimes false accusations against our selves as though it were not heavy enough in it selâ—e to presse us downe unlesse we added thereunto the loade of bitter invectives against our owne negligence and of sharpe censures for our owne faultinesse as being the cause which hath brought upon us those crosses and calamities
But we must lift up the eies of our minde above the earth unto heaven and consider that the Lord is the chiefe cause of all our afflictions and like a just judge useth wicked enemies false and fading friends Yea and also our owne improvidence and negligence as the executioners of his righteous judgements effecting by these meanes his owne purposes for the advancing of his glory and also for our eternall good And therefore let us patiently look up eye him which is invisible who hath power in his own hand to restraine their fury bridle their malice work their falsehood and treachery and make use of our own weaknesse and failings for our future advantage Waiting patiently for the Lords coming to help us or bearing patiently what the Lord imposeth on us are a like right pleasing and acceptable services unto our God which he is wont to crown with multiplyed and overflowing refreshings when he comes They that waite upon the Lord shall renue their strength they shall mount up with wings as Eagles they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint Isa 40.31 Ah! We have not patiently waited so many yeares in the meanes of grace for comfort as God hath waited for our conversion Let us resolve to doe as much as we can and suffer as much in obedience to God as we can suffer for necessity or passion feare or desire and surely if we can for one thing we can for another and there is nothing wanting but the minde and therefore let us not say we cannot indure this for God would never have sent it if he had not known us strong enough to abide it onely he that knowes us well already would also take this occasion to make us know our selves And truly there is an art or skill of bearing troubles if we could learne it without overmuch troubling of our selves as in bearing of a burden there is a way so to poize it that it weigheth not over-heavy if it hangs all on one side it poizeth the body down Thus is it when we lay all the weights in the scales of creatures and other crosse accidents occasioned by our selves We pull the greatest part of our troubles upon our selves by not imparting our care so as to take upon us the care of duty and leave the rest to God Ah! Let us not thinke the day of the Lord too little and the day of man too much but relye on the all-sufficient God accounting it nothing to be judged by man as knowing in whom we have believed and that it is enough that our judgement is with the most high and the uprightnesse of our hearts are known to him and that our praise is with him And at least wise shall we be accounted patient sufferers if finding impatiencie to arise in our affections we shall be displeased with our selves for it And to checke and chide our soules for our impatiency saying as David Psal 62. Yet my soule be silent to Jehovah Neither must we be patient for a fit or take patiently one crosse and fume and 〈◊〉 for another but we must with a Christian Magnanimity be able to beare all Thus we see did Job after one affliction he patiently indured another untill they were exceedingly multiplied in number and increased in weight And this was the practice of the Prophet Isa Chap. 26.9 In the way of thy judgements O Lord have we waited for thee So likewise the Church Lâ—m. 3.26 It is good saith she both to trust and to waite for the salvation of the Lord. And let us not in a blockish stupidity lye under the correcting hand of God as if we had no sence no no god will have his blowes felt and as Ambrose well observed they doe not deserve the praise of patience who indure without complaining the wounds of adversity when being benummed they have no sence of paine And therefore moderate griefe for offending such a gracious father may very well stand with true patience we ought to grieve saith a holy and experimentall divine one of a thousand when God rebukes yet as children to their fathers scourge with shame with feare and with submission and as children to their fathers love with hearts inlarged and love redundant weepâ— and love and as children to their saâ—ers â—me with holy change and â—est reformation And as children to their fathers bounds with eye to present time for present duty Ah! Leâ— uâ—study what is our present duty and God will study what shall be for our future comfort And then may we safely expect God in his wayes of mercy when we are in his wayes of obedience And let us likewise beare our afflictions freely and willingly sweetly and silently putting our necks under the yoake and willingly kissing the rod. For if we goâ— to the crosse as beares to the stake we suffer not in obedience remember what the Lord Jesus hath said he that taketh not up his crosse daily cannot be my disciple Forced suffering against our wills is not worth the name of patience over-powered strength may beare in policy when it must yeild of necessity but little thankes for such bearing in respect of God to choose to beare rather then not when God chastiseth and his will is so to take up the crosse when flesh might finde the way to shift it Christ calling thereunto this is action and truth of duty not dull passion or patience perforce And there 's a wide difference betweene taking up our crosse and having it laied on us many a one beares a forced burden whether they will or no grudgingly and with repining no reward for this but then is our fortitude worthy of praise when we can indure to be miserable willingly And willingnesse implieth cheerefulnesse and so we must be too But here then you may object Is it not required that we should be affected with sorrow in our sufferings and moderately mourne in our crosses and afflictions and how then can we at the same time rejoyce seeing joy and mourning are opposite one to another For answer hereunto we must know that Christian sorrow rejoycing may well stand together seeing the one maketh way for the other for therefore we be waile our sins that we may rejoice in the assurance of the pardon of them of our reconciliation with God and of our interest in all the gracious promises of the Gospell So that though we give the first part to be acted by sorrow yet let us not alwayes have it continue in a Christian heart for so it would grow immoderate but after this our unfained repentance for sin and our assurance of pardon with God let us have spirituall rejoycing not only when we have a confluence of those left-handed blessings but in tribulation and afflictions Againe opposites may agree in the same subject at the same time in a divers respect for so we mourne because by our sins we have crucified the Lord of life but rejoyce in that by his death he
upon us no more then is necssary Phisitians will not minister a strong potion where a lenitive is enough nor put one dram too much in his prescription much less will the Lord nay we our selves if one medicine do not cure us we seek another Thus dealeth God when afflictions are growne ordinary and usuall they move the lesse because they be familiar therefore God is pleased to alter and change his medicines that they might work the more kindely He proportions out the measure of afflictions according to the scantest measure of our necessity for the magnifying of his owne glory by our sanctification in this life and our salvation in the life to come Alas the Lord doth not take any delight in our smart or maketh any hast to inflict his chastisements but with patience and long-suffering he expecteth our repentance that he may have mercy upon us and doth not take his rod of correction into his hand till he be pressed with the weight of our sins He doth not punish us willingly as one that taketh delight in our smart and torment but performeth it as an action which is rather fit for us to suffer than for him to do Let us conclude therefore That if we have great or tedious afflictions lying upon us either we have great faults or great stomacks we many times deale with God as children do with their parents while they are under the rod promise amendement but no sooner released but presently we are as bad as ever And therefore though God may ease us to try us sometimes yet when he lengthens our afflictions he will take our word no more but will make a through work and till he see us throughly humbled and amended and know that our conversion and repentance be constant and without danger of fleeting he will not burn the rod. But as the Gold-Smith lets his Gold melt in the Furnace till it be throughly purified and purged from its drosse which when he perceives it according to his minde will by no meanes suffer it to stay there any longer because it would but wast and loose of his weight So doth the Lord suffer us to remaine in the Furnace of affliction till we be purged from our drosse of sin by renewing our faith and repentance but no sooner are we according to his purpose purified but he pulleth us out and will not suffer us to wast and consume our selves with sorrow and heavinesse and therefore let us patiently indure the triall seeing God who putteth us into the Furnace knoweth the best time when to take us out And by this we may conclude that our afflictions are limitted both in regard of their weight and measure God hath said to our sorrowes as to the proud waves of the Sea hither shall you come and no farther all the Angels in Heaven shall not be able to abate them nor all the men on earth or devils in hell to add one scruple to them And whiles God unto his children measureth judgement according to their strength he rendreth judgement to the wicked according to the measure of their sinnes 5 Another consideration is that our afflictions are not the punishments of a Righteous Judg but the chastisements of a Gracious Father And this the Apostle perswades Heb. 12.6 7 8. My Son despise not thou the chastning of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him for whom the Lord loveth he chastneth and scourgeth every Son whom he receiveth c. God indeed is displeased not with the person for his hatred to the sin but with the sin for the love of the person he is not angry in justice because we have sinned so much as in mercy that we may sin no more and therefore we may sometimes lie under anger but never under wrath it was the Lord Jesus Christ that suffered the wrath of God and satisfied divine justice he bore the punishments which were due unto sins and discharged our debt by offering up himselfe unto his Father as a sufficient sacrifice and paying a price of infinite value and merit for our redemption 6 God hath preordained those to be like Christ in his sufferings who shall be like him in glory we must be content to drink with Christ in his bitter Cup before we shall be exalted to sit with him in his Kingdome and this the Apostle Peter affirmeth 1 Pet. 2.21 for Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that we should follow his steps If we will feast with Christ in Heaven we must be content to fast with him on earth If there we would keep an everlasting Sabbath with him in his Kingdome we must labour and travell whilst those working dayes last That was a sweet speech of Bernard thou oh Lord Jesus saith he art to me both an example and reward of suffering and both do strongly provoke and vehemently inflame me thou teachest my hands to fight by the example of thy fortitude and after victory thou Crownest my head with the presence of thy Majesty Oh! if thou beest so good to those that seeke and run after thee what wilt thou be to those who finde and possesse thee If the Prince of our salvation was consecrated by afflictions why should we expect a priviledge above him It is not suitable and fit that an afflicted head should have a pampered body and members It becometh not the servant to live in idlenesse and pleasure when as the master wearieth himselfe with paines and labours how can we be called his disciples if we are not content to walke in his steps for as the Apostle saith Phil. 3.10 11. If we will know him and the virtue of his resurrection we must first have fellowship with him in his afflictions and be made conformable unto his death if by any means we may attaine unto the resurrection of the dead Ah! if we would often meditate of those afflictions the Lord Jesus Christ did suffer and that to bring us to heaven we would not pore upon our own so much as we doe would we but thinke when we suffer poverty and are pinched with worldly wants what the Lord of heaven and earth sustained he was destitute of earthly comforts and had not a house to lay his head When we are injuriously traduced and injustly slandered and abused let us call to minde the Lambe of God who was without spot or blemish most innocent and full of all goodnesse even he was called a wine-Bibber a friend to publicans and sinners an imposter and one that did all his miracles by the helpe of the devill When we are ill requited by those of whom we have better deserved forsaken by our friends in the time of our need and betraied by those who stand obliged unto us by many benefits and to whom we have committed the very secrets of our soules Oh let us thinke our deare Lord was worse used before us for those he came to save sought his destruction his disciples forsake him and flee away